USC Subchapter X

in effect

42 U.S.C. § 1201 Authorization of appropriations

For the purpose of enabling each State to furnish financial assistance, as far as practicable under the conditions in such State, to needy individuals who are blind, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of this subchapter. The sums made available under this section shall be used for making payments to States which have submitted, and had approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, State plans for aid to the blind.

42 U.S.C. § 1202 State plans for aid to blind

(a) A State plan for aid to the blind must (1) except to the extent permitted by the Secretary with respect to services, provide that it shall be in effect in all political subdivisions of the State, and, if administered by them, be mandatory upon them; (2) provide for financial participation by the State; (3) either provide for the establishment or designation of a single State agency to administer the plan, or provide for the establishment or designation of a single State agency to supervise the administration of the plan; (4) provide (A) for granting an opportunity for a fair hearing before the State agency to any individual whose claim for aid to the blind is denied or is not acted upon with reasonable promptness, and (B) that if the State plan is administered in each of the political subdivisions of the State by a local agency and such local agency provides a hearing at which evidence may be presented prior to a hearing before the State agency, such local agency may put into effect immediately upon issuance its decision upon the matter considered at such hearing; (5) provide (A) such methods of administration (including after January 1, 1940, methods relating to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards on a merit basis, except that the Secretary shall exercise no authority with respect to the selection, tenure of office, and compensation of any individual employed in accordance with such methods) as are found by the Secretary to be necessary for the proper and efficient operation of the plan, and (B) for the training and effective use of paid subprofessional staff, with particular emphasis on the full-time or part-time employment of recipients and other persons of low-income, as community service aides, in the administration of the plan and for the use of nonpaid or partially paid volunteers in a social service volunteer program in providing services to applicants and recipients and in assisting any advisory committees established by the State agency; (6) provide that the State agency will make such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Secretary may from time to time require, and comply with such provisions as the Secretary may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports; and 11 So in original. The word “and” probably should not appear. (7) provide that no aid will be furnished any individual under the plan with respect to any period with respect to which he is receiving old-age assistance under the State plan approved under section 302 of this title or assistance under a State program funded under part A of subchapter IV; (8) provide that the State agency shall, in determining need, take into consideration any other income and resources of the individual claiming aid to the blind, as well as any expenses reasonably attributable to the earning of any such income, except that, in making such determination, the State agency (A) shall disregard the first $85 per month of earned income, plus one-half of earned income in excess of $85 per month, (B) shall, for a period not in excess of twelve months, and may, for a period not in excess of thirty-six months, disregard such additional amounts of other income and resources, in the case of an individual who has a plan for achieving self-support approved by the State agency, as may be necessary for the fulfillment of such plan, and (C) may, before disregarding the amounts referred to in clauses (A) and (B), disregard not more than $7.50 of any income; (9) provide safeguards which permit the use or disclosure of information concerning applicants or recipients only (A) to public officials who require such information in connection with their official duties, or (B) to other persons for purposes directly connected with the administration of the State plan; (10) provide that, in determining whether an individual is blind, there shall be an examination by a physician skilled in diseases of the eye or by an optometrist, whichever the individual may select; (11) effective July 1, 1951, provide that all individuals wishing to make application for aid to the blind shall have opportunity to do so, and that aid to the blind shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to all eligible individuals; (12) effective July 1, 1953, provide, if the plan includes payments to individuals in private or public institutions, for the establishment or designation of a State authority or authorities which shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining standards for such institutions; (13) provide a description of the services (if any) which the State agency makes available (using whatever internal organizational arrangement it finds appropriate for this purpose) to applicants for and recipients of aid to the blind to help them attain self-support or self-care, including a description of the steps taken to assure, in the provision of such services, maximum utilization of other agencies providing similar or related services; and (14) provide that information is requested and exchanged for purposes of income and eligibility verification in accordance with a State system which meets the requirements of section 1320b–7 of this title. (b) The Secretary shall approve any plan which fulfills the conditions specified in subsection (a), except that he shall not approve any plan which imposes, as a condition of eligibility for aid to the blind under the plan—(1) Any residence requirement which excludes any resident of the State who has resided therein five years during the nine years immediately preceding the application for aid and has resided therein continuously for one year immediately preceding the application; or (2) Any citizenship requirement which excludes any citizen of the United States. At the option of the State, the plan may provide that manuals and other policy issuances will be furnished to persons without charge for the reasonable cost of such materials, but such provision shall not be required by the Secretary as a condition for the approval of such plan under this subchapter. In the case of any State (other than Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) which did not have on January 1, 1949, a State plan for aid to the blind approved under this subchapter, the Secretary shall approve a plan of such State for aid to the blind for purposes of this subchapter, even though it does not meet the requirements of clause (8) of subsection (a) of this section, if it meets all other requirements of this subchapter for an approved plan for aid to the blind; but payments under section 1203 of this title shall be made, in the case of any such plan, only with respect to expenditures thereunder which would be included as expenditures for the purposes of section 1203 of this title under a plan approved under this section without regard to the provisions of this sentence.

42 U.S.C. § 1203 Payment to States

(a) Authorization of paymentsFrom the sums appropriated therefor, the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to each State which has an approved plan for aid to the blind, for each quarter, beginning with the quarter commencing October 1, 1958—(1) Repealed. Pub. L. 97–35, title XXI, § 2184(c)(2)(A), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 817. (2) in the case of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam, an amount equal to one-half of the total of the sums expended during such quarter as aid to the blind under the State plan, not counting so much of any expenditure with respect to any month as exceeds $37.50 multiplied by the total number of recipients of aid to the blind for such month; and (3) in the case of any State, an amount equal to 50 percent of the total amounts expended during such quarter as found necessary by the Secretary for the proper and efficient administration of the State plan. (b) Computation of amountsThe method of computing and paying such amounts shall be as follows:(1) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, prior to the beginning of each quarter, estimate the amount to be paid to the State for such quarter under the provisions of subsection (a), such estimate to be based on (A) a report filed by the State containing its estimate of the total sum to be expended in such quarter in accordance with the provisions of such subsection, and stating the amount appropriated or made available by the State and its political subdivisions for such expenditures in such quarter, and if such amount is less than the State’s proportionate share of the total sum of such estimated expenditures, the source or sources from which the difference is expected to be derived, (B) records showing the number of blind individuals in the State, and (C) such other investigation as the Secretary may find necessary. (2) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall then certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount so estimated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, (A) reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any sum by which he finds that his estimate for any prior quarter was greater or less than the amount which should have been paid to the State under subsection (a) for such quarter, and (B) reduced by a sum equivalent to the pro rata share to which the United States is equitably entitled, as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, of the net amount recovered during a prior quarter by the State or any political subdivision thereof with respect to aid to the blind furnished under the State plan; except that such increases or reductions shall not be made to the extent that such sums have been applied to make the amount certified for any prior quarter greater or less than the amount estimated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for such prior quarter: Provided, That any part of the amount recovered from the estate of a deceased recipient which is not in excess of the amount expended by the State or any political subdivision thereof for the funeral expenses of the deceased shall not be considered as a basis for reduction under clause (B) of this paragraph. (3) The Secretary of the Treasury shall thereupon, through the Fiscal Service of the Treasury Department, and prior to audit or settlement by the Government Accountability Office, pay to the State, at the time or times fixed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the amount so certified.

42 U.S.C. § 1204 Operation of State plans

In the case of any State plan for aid to the blind which has been approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, if the Secretary, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency administering or supervising the administration of such plan, finds— (1) that the plan has been so changed as to impose any residence or citizenship requirement prohibited by section 1202(b) of this title, or that in the administration of the plan any such prohibited requirement is imposed, with the knowledge of such State agency, in a substantial number of cases; or (2) that in the administration of the plan there is a failure to comply substantially with any provision required by section 1202(a) of this title to be included in the plan; the Secretary shall notify such State agency that further payments will not be made to the State (or, in his discretion, that payments will be limited to categories under or parts of the State plan not affected by such failure) until the Secretary is satisfied that such prohibited requirement is no longer so imposed, and that there is no longer any such failure to comply. Until he is so satisfied he shall make no further payments to such State (or shall limit payments to categories under or parts of the State plan not affected by such failure).

42 U.S.C. § 1206 “Aid to the blind” defined

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term “aid to the blind” means money payments to blind individuals who are needy, but does not include any such payments to or care in behalf of any individual who is an inmate of a public institution (except as a patient in a medical institution) or any individual who is a patient in an institution for tuberculosis or mental diseases. Such term also includes payments which are not included within the meaning of such term under the preceding sentence, but which would be so included except that they are made on behalf of such a needy individual to another individual who (as determined in accordance with standards prescribed by the Secretary) is interested in or concerned with the welfare of such needy individual, but only with respect to a State whose State plan approved under section 1202 of this title includes provision for— (1) determination by the State agency that such needy individual has, by reason of his physical or mental condition, such inability to manage funds that making payments to him would be contrary to his welfare and, therefore, it is necessary to provide such aid through payments described in this sentence; (2) making such payments only in cases in which such payments will, under the rules otherwise applicable under the State plan for determining need and the amount of aid to the blind to be paid (and in conjunction with other income and resources), meet all the need 11 So in original. Probably should be “needs”. of the individuals with respect to whom such payments are made; (3) undertaking and continuing special efforts to protect the welfare of such individual and to improve, to the extent possible, his capacity for self-care and to manage funds; (4) periodic review by such State agency of the determination under paragraph (1) of this subsection to ascertain whether conditions justifying such determination still exist, with provision for termination of such payments if they do not and for seeking judicial appointment of a guardian or other legal representative, as described in section 1311 of this title, if and when it appears that such action will best serve the interests of such needy individual; and (5) opportunity for a fair hearing before the State agency on the determination referred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection for any individual with respect to whom it is made. At the option of a State (if its plan approved under this subchapter so provides), such term (i) need not include money payments to an individual who has been absent from such State for a period in excess of 90 consecutive days (regardless of whether he has maintained his residence in such State during such period) until he has been present in such State for 30 consecutive days in the case of such an individual who has maintained his residence in such State during such period or 90 consecutive days in the case of any other such individual, and (ii) may include rent payments made directly to a public housing agency on behalf of a recipient or a group or groups of recipients of aid under such plan.